What are the Causes and Symptoms of Myopia

Myopia or nearsightedness is a condition characterized by blurriness of distant objects. In this condition, a person can clearly see near objects but distant objects appear fuzzy. Myopia can be diagnosed at any stage of life.

This is a common eye problem amongst children and young adults. Myopia diagnosed during childhood aggravates over time, but stabilizes during adulthood. Myopia is often mistaken with astigmatism, which is another vision problem.

Myopia is caused due to a refractive error. To be able to see properly, light rays must focus in such a way that an image is formed exactly on the retina. However, in myopia, light rays focus on a point just in front of retina, thus an image is formed in front of retina rather than on it. This is mostly caused due to an abnormally elongated eyeball.

Such elongation prevents the rays from reaching retina, thereby resulting in formation of image in front of retina. Shape of an eyeball is the basic difference between myopia and astigmatism. Astigmatism is caused due to an irregular shape of eyeball, whereas myopia is caused due to elongated eyeball. There are various factors that may contribute to elongation of an eyeball, some of which are listed below.

Some people are genetically predisposed to developing myopia. In such cases, myopia is usually diagnosed at an early age. During young age, eye glasses are the only way of correcting vision. Contact lenses can be considered once the child is able to take care of contacts. However, severe cases of genetic myopia may have to be corrected with the help of laser eye surgery only.

This is the most common cause of acquired myopia in children and young adults. When you focus on a close object for a long time, your eye muscles contract and get locked. Prolonged focus on closed objects may cause a problem with relaxation of eyes. Eventually, you develop nearsightedness due to excessive strain on eyes. Some of the actions that contribute to eye strain are excessive reading, reading in insufficient light, watching TV, playing video games, etc.

Stress puts a lot of pressure on the intracranial nerves which control the muscles of eyes. Prolonged periods of stress may hamper your vision and make you myopic. Besides, if you have a demanding job that forces you to continuously strain your eyes, then also you may develop stress and suffer from myopia.

Blurriness of vision while viewing distant objects is the most prominent symptom of myopia. You may observe that squinting your eyes actually improves your vision. Thus, if you find yourself squinting while reading billboards, then you might have myopia. Headaches are also a common symptom as your eyes work extra to focus on the distant objects.

This puts additional strain on the eyes. If you continue to strain your eyes for long you may get eye fatigue and watery eyes. If you experience any of these symptoms, you can visit any of the optometrist and get a thorough eye examination done. This condition is diagnosed even in the most basic of eye tests.

Eye glasses can correct the refractive error and offer better vision. Contact lenses are other treatment option if you are concerned about your physical appearance. However, if you have a very high power, then you may want to go for laser eye surgery to correct this vision problem. In addition, certain eye exercises for myopia can also help to correct this condition.

Parents must be vigilant about the symptoms of myopia in children, as children may not be able to express even if they have any eye problem. A routine eye examination can help diagnose this condition at the earliest, so that appropriate measures can be taken.